The Flat (2011) - full transcript

>> Arnon Goldfinger: This is

my grandmother, Gerda.

A month ago, she died.

Since then, no one has

been here.

Everything remains as it was.

Now we have a difficult task:

To decide what stays

and what goes.

>> Woman speaking Hebrew:

>> All speaking Hebrew:



>> Arnon: When I was a kid,

I liked to come here.

Once a week, I'd cross the

streets of Tel Aviv,

climb up the stairs and

find myself in Berlin.

My grandmother lived here

for 70 years as if she had

never left Germany.

Despite her years in the

holy land, she never mastered

Hebrew and I didn't want

to learn German.

So we'd sit and chat in English



over apfelstrudel and

Swiss chocolate.

When I grew up, I realized

that the meaningful things

were always left unspoken.

>> The clean-up begins at

the rate of 60 garbage bags

per day.

>> My mother and cousins

storm the flat.

>> Who could believe that we

were digging through

closets that we'd never

dared to open?

Grandmother would turn over

in her grave if she knew

what we were doing.

>> Mother:

>> Next come the books.

Micha adler, a German-Jewish

book lover, will find them

a new home.

>> To me, grandfather Kurt was

an important man from

a distant land.

When he died, I was 15.

Grandmother used to say that I

inherited his love of books...

And his glasses.

But what else do I know

about the man I resemble?

All in Hebrew:

>> My grandparents had

12 grandchildren.

The oldest one died.

Five live in America.

Four remember nothing.

And one is just too busy.

That leaves me.

And the flat.

Three weeks go by, and no one

comes to remove a thing,

except mother.

She was born in Berlin,

but this is her childhood home.

Now that her parents are gone,

it's all hers.

When it comes to the documents,

she can't throw anything away,

not even old bank statements.

She inspects them line by line,

letter by letter and only then

can she throw it away.

>> What is Nazi propaganda

doing in my grandparents' flat?

The newspapers tell the story

of the Nazi who travels

to Palestine.

You can see him gazing from the

ship at impish little Jews

at the shore.

But there are also pictures

of Jewish pioneers: Drying the

swamps, plowing the land,

fulfilling the zionist dream

of establishing the

Jewish state in Palestine.

It gets really absurd when

I discover that the readers

also got a special bonus:

A copper medallion.

On one side, the symbol of

the Jews; On the other,

the symbol of those who wanted

to get rid of them.

But what does it have to do

with my grandparents?

I heard that up north,

there is a German Jew who

specializes in German Jews--

Dr. Barkai.

When I called and told him

the story, he wasn't surprised.

He, too, had come across

"the Nazi's travelogues".

>> Dr. Barkai:

>> Grandfather was a zionist.

On the other hand, he was a

German patriot who was

decorated for his service

in world war I.

When he returned from

Palestine, he found a letter

on his desk.

The Nazis had fired him,

like all Jewish judges.

Yet, he and grandmother still

felt that Germany was their

home and even brought a new

baby into the world:

Hannahle, my mother.

>> Woman: "The chancellor of the

federal Republic of Germany and

Mrs. Helmut kohl request the

honor of the company of

Mrs. Gerda tuchler--"

>> mother speaking Hebrew:

>> One night, in the flat,

I found a magazine.

Clearly, it wasn't

grandmother's regular

reading material.

Looking through it, I landed

on a pair of s.S. Boots.

It was an article about the

Nazi who traveled to Palestine.

Von Mildenstein, it seems,

was not just a journalist,

but an s.S. Officer who

investigated the

Jewish question.

Suddenly, an unexpected name

popped up: Grandmother Gerda.

The magazine folded long ago,

but I was able to track down

elat negev and jehuda koren,

the writers of the article.

>> Jehuda:

>> I remember seeing an album

full of little pictures like

the ones jehuda and elat

gave me.

But at the time,

it didn't faze me.

In the album, it looks like two

couples from Berlin going on

vacation to the orient.

With Von mildenstein at the

wheel, they hit the dusty roads

of Palestine... waving to the

locals, photographing Jewish

pioneers and holy sites.

But grandmother and the

baroness preferred ice-cold

lemonade.

>> Hannah:

>> Arnon:

>> I wonder why the past never

made it into mother's home.

Here, everything is perfectly

new and perfectly in place.

That's how she raised US.

What's important is the here

and now.

All she takes from

grandmother's flat are

pleasant, little mementos.

When my grandmother died,

I realized that my family lives

only in the present.

So I take home anything that

smells a hundred years old

or older.

For the first time in my life,

I have a past.

But in that past, I keep

finding one name over and

over again.

>> Newsreel reporter

speaking Hebrew:

>> Man speaking Hebrew:

>> Speaking German:

>> Lawyer speaking Hebrew:

>> Speaking German:

>> Lawyer speaking Hebrew:

>> Speaking German:

>> Von mildenstein's idea,

as the head of the "department

of Jewish affairs", was to get

the Jews to leave their

homeland of their own volition.

This was realized just partly

by my grandparents.

Indeed, they packed up and left

Berlin, but after the war they

kept on packing and returned to

Germany year after year.

>> Arnon:

>> Hannah:

>> Woman on phone: Hallo?

>> Ahh... is it possible

to speak in English?

Is it possible?

>> I can, in English,

no problem.

>> Um... I'm calling from

Tel Aviv, from Israel.

My name is arnon Goldfinger.

>> Yes?

>> And I'm the grandson of Kurt

and Gerda tuchler.

>> You aren't.

>> Yeah, I am.

>> Really? >> Yeah!

>> Right! Carry on.

>> Do you know them?

>> Well, I knew...

Mr. Tuchler I knew.

Gerda tuchler...

Because they were friends with

my parents.

>> Yes, that's it.

>> Right!

>> Yeah, wow, it's a surprise

because...

>> I'm very surprised.

>> Yeah...

You know what happened?

My grandma, Gerda, passed away

not long ago... >> Oh.

>> Yeah, she was 98.

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> Fantastic age,

absolutely wonderful.

>> Yeah.

>> I hope she had a good life,

too. >> Yeah.

>> She was very, very bouncy

when she was here and to so

proudly telling of her

grandchildren and...

>> Yeah, I didn't know...

>> She gave me a very, very

sweet necklace with a turquoise

stone; I still have it and

cherish it very, very much.

Well, I mean, in a way, it's a

, definitely.

>> You know, frankly, i'm

surprised, you know, that you

answered and that you know them

and I'm very surprised, so I

even did not, you know...

You know, I have a bunch of

questions that I don't even know

what to do.

I need to think about it and

maybe call you again.

>> ...listen, let's not push it,

because, I mean, you have to

really sort of work through what

you find and make sense out of

it somehow...

>> Sure, sure, sure.

...in a sleepy suburb, in a

city I never heard of, lives

the Nazi baron's daughter.

One day her phone rings and

a man with a strange accent is

on the line.

She knows who he is

immediately.

It's the grandson of her

parents' good friends,

Kurt and Gerda tuchler.

She's flooded by memories, as

if they visited only yesterday.

But today, the grandson visits

instead.

>> Woman: Hello!

Take your coat off?

We should have a glass of

champagne, really.

Cheers.

>> You know, what really

surprised me on the phone when

we were speaking that, I mean,

about Gerda and Kurt and your

parents-- were they really

friends?

I mean, uh... after the war?

>> I think they were...

Well before the war, they were

obviously very, very close,

good friends and they discussed

a lot.

I knew them from the talks,

at a very early age, I knew the

names and I've really got to

meet them the first times when

they came into this house and

that was well after the war and,

uh, yeah, they were having good

times together.

Talking again from the past,

meaning half an hour after I was

in, I was sent out, it wasn't my

subject to be.

And no, they were really sort of

obviously close enough to do

this friendship and they seemed

to be sending letters at a

regular basis, both sides.

>> In German:

...can't read that.

56-26-56.

>> That's from here?

From wuppertal?

>> No, that is from Tel Aviv...

Gordon street.

>> Well, you told me on the

phone that you received from

Gerda... >> Yeah?

>> A necklace.

>> I now got more stuff to work

through than I thought was worth

living for.

I'm sure I haven't put it over

there somewhere.

Yes, it wasn't hiding away

anywhere-- I found it.

>> When did she give it to you?

>> They brought that, I think,

to my mind, the first time

they came.

And of course, when I saw that

picture, playing detective work,

I couldn't possibly imagine when

that one time, who might've been

the girl at the back.

Now, that, to my mind, could've

been your mother.

Don't you dare to say no.

>> Um...

>> Because all the others

are boys.

>> Yeah.

But this is actually already

Gerda's grandchild.

This is my... older brother.

>> O.k. >> This one.

>> One identified. >> Yeah.

>> And that's, quite obviously,

a boy.

>> And that's a cousin of mine.

>> That one?

>> Another cousin of mine.

>> O.k.

>> So that must be a picture

before I was born.

>> Oh.

>> Yeah.

So, how come you got this

picture?

>> I suppose that Gerda tuchler

sent it to my mother,

straightforward.

Mm-hmm. >> Mm-hmm.

>> Or they had it with them when

they came here and they left it

with her.

I think you'll just have to go

very sort of, like, hands up and

accept the fact that they were

two lots of people, obviously

got on very well.

>> You know, I'm curious to

understand them because for me,

it was a real surprise that

they, I mean, that my

grandparents kept in contact

after the war with, you know,

some Germans at all.

>> Yeah, funny, they did.

>> I try to imagine my

grandparents coming here, with

flowers and suitcases full

of gifts.

I still can't believe that they

renewed their friendship with

the Von mildensteins as if

nothing had ever happened.

...how was, uh, the first time

you, you know, coming to her

house, meeting her parents?

>> Edda: He survived it.

>> Uh, ja...

Well, that's quite a story and,

and...

They didn't want me, really, no,

as a son-in-law.

It can't have been my job

because I had quite a good

managerial position in that

company.

I think they would have

preferred a diplomat, you know,

or whatever, is my impression

because...

>> They, they very much moved in

diplomatic circles that, uh,

my parents-in-law and...

That must've been the reason.

>> Edda: That is the family

tree, as you could call it,

and it goes, really, as I say,

from the year 300-and-something.

Was I right?

Yes, I was right.

372...

Down to-- pull it, down at the

bottom-- on the bottom one...

>> Harald: Edda milz...

...Von mildenstein.

>> Arnon: What is the meaning of

the "Von"?

Baron or some kind of...?

>> No, that's old German gentry,

um, and...

Ja, that may also have been

the reason...

Not wanted to accept me as

a normal blue-blooded, uh--

red-blooded, not blue-blooded

person, you know.

I don't know whether you know

this difference.

In Germany we say, "he is

blue-blooded," so he is gentry,

or she is. >> Um...

>> Harald: Sorry, did you not

notice that I always go one step

behind my wife?

It's like prince Philip behind

the queen, you know, because she

is blue-blooded and I'm not.

>> Edda: He said that while I

walk around, yeah, yeah.

>> After edda and Harald got

married, they moved to the

United Kingdom, far away from

their parents.

30 years later, they returned

to Germany, to the house

where edda was raised.

Here edda found letters and

photos in a mess she couldn't

put in order.

>> Edda: Letters, letters,

letters.

>> Like me, she didn't have the

courage to throw away her

inheritance, so she stuck it in

the basement.

I didn't know how to ask her

what her father did during

the war.

Instead, I requested a picture

of him from that period.

>> Look, this is a miracle, that

we found it.

Maybe you want the light on.

>> Arnon: What is it?

>> That is the daily mail of

December the 10th, 1956.

"Goebbels men help nasser.

Four goebbels-trained Nazis are

the brains behind the torrent

of lies, abuse and powers

endlessly nasser's voice off

the arabs' radio station."

Um, "baron Von mildenstein,

formerly chief of the near east

bureau of goebbels propaganda

ministry..."

>> Was he working with goebbels?

>> Sorry?

>> Was your father working with

goebbels?

>> We got...

According to this gentleman,

yes, but there's absolutely no

proof, no nothing.

He never did work with goebbels.

>> Did he sue them?

>> Yes, a solicitor put up

the claim to sue them for libel

actions, and that, after--

I don't know, it may have taken

two months or whatever the legal

cases do in these countries--

and they, of course, had to

pay damages.

Then they had big headlines--

the other press, not the mail,

they had nothing in it--

the telegraph and the times and

they had that, the first German

journalist who actually fought

in British courts and won the

libel actions against them.

>> Here.

>> Do I have to read the

whole thing? >> Please.

>> Can I copy it for you?

"There was no truth

in the article.

So far as the plaintiff was

concerned, he was not a Nazi.

The defendant now recognizes the

allegations had been unjustified

and that they agreed to

compensate the plaintiff and to

pay his costs of proceeding."

Is that enough?

I should think so.

I suppose that's what

always happens with the press

when they get a little bit

over-excited in the wrong

direction.

>> I don't know what to

make of edda.

She received me with the warmth

and openness of a person who

has nothing to hide.

Yet, she presented her father

as having no Nazi past.

She even has the press

clippings to prove it.

And then she told me another

thing and I couldn't believe

my ears.

>> I know that there was one

problem that Kurt tuchler's

mother who lived...

In the northeast side of Berlin?

I don't know anything about her

other than she was already then

a very old lady and the tuchler

couple tried very hard to

convince her to leave Germany.

And she was like--

>> arnon: You mean the mother

of Gerda?

>> The mother of Kurt.

>> Of Kurt?

>> Yeah.

>> About what time are you

talking about?

I can't put a date

to that.

I only know that there was

a problem in the family,

in amongst the tuchlers, saying

that mother-- now whose ever it

was, whether hers or his, but

I should have mentioned that

it was his mother-- refused

to leave her house, her place,

her everything.

"Well, if you would come with

US," in brackets was said to

her, "then you could take all

your possessions with you, now."

And she said, "no, we've always

lived here."

And then history went that--

I think they even mentioned it

when they were here again--

of course, she was then taken to

theresienstadt and was

killed there.

Difficult.

>> How do the Von mildensteins

know things about my family

that no one ever told me?

>> When I return to Israel,

I find that strangers have

invaded the flat.

My mother called in

professionals who promised fast

removal for a fair price.

>> I had no idea that my

grandparents were carrying in

their hearts such a loss.

I realize that the woman edda

told me about must have been

my grandmother's mother,

susanne lehmann.

I go to tamar, a second cousin,

who enjoyed visiting

grandmother Gerda and writing

everything down.

>> The drama that followed

susanne's return to Germany

unfolds letter after letter.

My grandmother and her mother

corresponded continuously,

up to the moment susanne was

forced to leave her home and

was deported to the ghetto.

"My dear children, I received

your letter and as always i'm

happy to hear from you.

Day by day, my solitude

worsens.

There is not much left to do.

But I refuse to lose hope that

one day we shall see each

other again."

>> In my mother's photo album,

I find evidence of susanne

lehmann's visit to Tel Aviv.

Three generations of women

in one photograph, unaware that

this is the last picture they

will ever take together.

I scheduled a visit with

frau gertrud kino,

my grandmother's last

living friend.

>> Gertrud speaking Hebrew:

>> Grandmother probably knew

that gertrud wouldn't approve

of her friendship with the Von

mildensteins, just as she

couldn't relate to her longing

for Germany.

But the pictures keep revealing

a friendship that continued

after the war.

Here, my grandparents can be

seen on vacation with

Gerda Von mildenstein.

And here, the baron captured

them in front of a waterfall.

I don't understand how they

could reunite after what

happened to susanne?

>> Before mother goes on an

adventure, she always ties up

loose ends.

The things that managed to stay

on will now emigrate to an

unknown destination.

>> Two Jews on an airplane

to Germany.

As protocol would have it,

we must visit family first.

But of all the relatives

we had here, only a distant

one remains.

His name is manu troekes and

we're of the same generation.

His family survived the war

because his grandfather wasn't

Jewish, but he, too,

discovered one day that he had

a great-grandmother who died in

the holocaust: Paula lehmann.

>> Manu:

>> Hannah:

>> Woman speaking German:

>> Arnon: This is me, o.K.?

This is my mother and father.

This is Gerda... and Kurt.

And here, this is susanne

lehmann and Heinrich lehmann.

And he had four brothers

and a sister.

>> Hannah: Who?

>> Lehmann, Heinrich lehmann.

>> Heinrich lehmann.

>> Yes, yes, that's right.

>> Arnon: That's your

grandfather.

>> Hannah: I didn't know.

>> You didn't know?

>> No.

>> What?

O.k., continue.

Still, you're right,

you're right.

>> Arnon: And this is Paula.

Paula, the mother of

your grandmother. >> Yes.

>> And here's your mother.

>> Yes.

>> And here is you.

>> Exactly.

>> Manu.

>> Yes, exactly.

I show you what I did.

>> Woman: He did the

same paperwork.

>> The same paper I did.

>> A few days ago.

>> I started maybe a week ago

because I didn't-- I knew, but I

did not have all the details.

And uh, I got some details and

a photo, two photos,

from ilanna.

Ilanna's also the

same generation.

Of another brother--

Max lehmann.

>> Arnon: Max lehmann.

He is here.

>> Manu: He's the brother of

Heinrich lehmann and the brother

of Paula lehmann who's

Paula Bernstein.

>> To me, it's new.

>> I show you, wait.

>> To me, it's new.

I really didn't know.

>> Look.

>> Hannah: Oh.

>> My name is not lehmann,

of course, and yours is not

lehmann, but still, it is

our family.

It goes back one, two, three,

four generations.

>> I don't understand how

I don't know.

We didn't ask and we were

not told.

I knew only about the people who

are alive, but never about the

people who are not with US.

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> Did you know about the,

the destiny of Paula lehmann?

>> Yes, yes.

>> And how did you know

this story?

>> I asked.

But they said, "no."

They didn't want to hurt me,

but then much later, I learned

they didn't want to hurt

themselves too.

And one of the most horrifying

things is that they let go

my great-grandmother.

She was deported.

She ended in theresienstadt.

So what did the family do?

Did they bring her with a

suitcase to the truck?

Did they-- why did they

leave, let her go?

And why did not somebody

hide her?

I mean, even from the family.

>> Yeah.

Is it possible they didn't

know where she was going?

>> No.

Everybody knew.

>> Afternoon has come and in

Berlin, do as the berliners

do-- after schlafstunde,

time for spazieren.

>> Manu:

>> Ja?

>> Hier.

>> Hier ist Paula.

Guntherstrasse 45.

>> That was her last apartment?

>> Yes. >> Wow.

And here, look, there's

ein stolperstein.

To memory, Paula lehmann, here.

>> Hannah: No. >> Manu: Yeah!

>> I didn't know that they

put that--

>> Hannah: Unbelievable.

>> Manu: It's an artist who had

the idea, an artist.

And then either a family

or friend or somebody...

>> Pays for it.

>> Pays for this and then you

have to ask the community and

this is for Paula.

>> That's for--

>> manu: This is for Paula.

>> Paula lehmann isn't my only

relative who lived here.

The home of susanne lehmann

was a quick walk away.

When susannah would go to visit

her sister-in-law, she'd take

little hannahle along, to show

off her granddaughter.

>> It is from here that my

grandparents tried to rescue

susanne lehmann.

They wrote from Palestine to

anyone who could help and also

tried desperately to locate

their good friend.

He now had a code name: "Mild".

I don't know if Von mildenstein

ever received their letters or

where he was in those years.

Could he have helped?

>> Hannah and arnon: Hi.

>> Edda: How are you?

Did you have a good journey?

>> Yes.

>> Edda: There's ravensburger

jigsaws.

>> Arnon: Ah.

>> Edda: If they like that.

It's great fun.

>> Arnon: My daughter loves

presents.

>> Edda: That is very nice.

You know what a tige-ente is?

It's a tiger-duck.

>> I must admit, it's my

birthday today, you know?

>> Hannah and arnon: Oh!

>> I didn't want to tell

you before.

>> Hannah: Happy birthday!

>> Thank you.

>> Arnon: So Harald, this is

for your birthday.

>> Yeah.

>> I hope you will like it.

>> Thank you very much.

>> Arnon: Yes.

And this is for your

hospitality.

>> I'm not doing anything

for you.

Oh, that is wonderful.

>> Arnon: This is from

the dead sea.

>> Oh, that's great.

>> Israel folk songs.

Ja, gut.

>> Edda: Thank you very,

very much.

And

put it, uh...

>> Before we arrived, edda dug

up new evidence of the

friendship between her parents

and my grandparents.

...oh, I don't believe it.

...her mother's old diaries

from the time after their trip

to Palestine.

>> Edda: Mother's diaries, yes.

They are something.

Well, there's tuchlers again.

That was a theater or a film.

I think I would get so bored to

go to the same restaurant.

Well, there's tuchlers again.

That was on the 13th.

>> Arnon: 13th of what?

>> November.

Just before they left, but they

stayed even closer together

just before they left.

>> Yes.

>> Understandable. >> Yes.

>> Edda speaking German:

...that was it.

>> Harald: It's coming,

it's coming!

>> Man speaking German:

>> Arnon: Mazel tov!

>> Friendly fire.

>> Happy birthday.

>> Happy birthday.

>> Stay like this.

Yes.

>> Arnon: Edda.

Mazel tov.

Arnon: I was asking my mother

what happened the second world

war for our family?

And she claimed that her parents

didn't tell her nothing.

>> Hannah: No, they were not

talking about it.

>> Edda: I think that was the

kind of education we got then.

You know, parents wouldn't talk

about it and you wouldn't ask

because you weren't allowed

to ask.

>> Also, with US, it... we don't

have any discussion, any--

it was holes.

>> But that was the way that we

were brought up.

We didn't really get an

awful lot of...

>> But I remember very well

during the war, we had no radio,

we had no electricity and the

Americans and the British,

they put posters on the walls

and so on and informed US about

these concentration camps.

And people didn't believe it.

They said, "it's all

propaganda, it's all,"

you know, um, ja.

Done by the Americans

and British.

They just didn't believe it.

It's... you couldn't believe it

and then all of a sudden, ja,

it is the truth, you know.

And I remember that the word

"Nazi" wasn't there,

it was "nationalsozialisten"

this word "Nazi" came after

the war-- we never used it.

>> Arnon: And today you use it?

>> Pardon?

>> Today, do you use the word

Nazi here in--

>> oh, yeah, all the time.

Nazi, Nazi.

"Oh, he was a Nazi," and so on.

Mm-hmm.

>> So you are the

famous neighbor.

Edda told me about you.

Any question I have, you are

>> Edda speaking German:

>> Neighbor speaking German:

>> Harald: The little house

where you sit and have your

tea in the afternoon.

>> And what was actually the

story with the father of edda?

I didn't get it.

>> Well, I learned a lot today

when jedel talked about it.

I didn't know edda's father was,

he is an engineer,

civil engineer, really.

And as such, I think he also

worked and um,

but he liked traveling...

>> But during that time in the

beginning, was he part of the

national socialistic party?

>> Oh, he must have been, ja.

Ja.

Edda would know.

I think he has been,

he must have been.

As many have been, like our

teachers all were members of the

party-- they had to be, and uh,

nothing re-- they just wore this

little emblem here and um,

that was it.

I must say, not everybody was a

bad, a bad Nazi, you know.

They were also just members.

Had to, some had to be.

>> But do you know what

was his job?

>> Pardon?

>> What was his job?

>> I think he was, um...

Ja, it's strange to say,

I don't really know.

He worked in government,

in the, I think in the

interior ministry.

But edda would know exactly,

of course.

And it's strange enough that

we never-- edda and i-- we

hardly ever talk about it.

>> Really?

>> Not a topic.

I don't know. >> Really?

>> And I never had so much

interest in my father-in-law as

we had today, you know?

>> There was a time when the

name Von mildenstein must have

aroused more interest.

When the eichmann trial was on

German TV and the baron's name

came up, what did edda's

parents say about it at home?

She was 21.

>> I don't know.

I mean, yes, of course, he was

mentioned simply because he was

the chap before eichmann.

But he was thrown out because

he had other ideas.

>> Arnon: And what was his way

different from the others?

>> Huh?

>> In what way his method or

way of working was different

from the others?

>> Oh, I don't know what the

others were like,

but I mean, he--

>> eichmann was--

>> particularly eichmann.

I don't know what he,

his beginning views of what

he actually stood for.

I haven't a clue.

But what I read in the books say

he immediately organized things

like concentration camps, etc.

That was something he hadn't

even, father hadn't even heard

about before.

They wanted to get serious,

really, and they didn't want to

have anybody who would hinder

that and he was sort of being,

very much "he's not going

to do anything to any Jews.

He's got Jewish friends anyway.

So, we drop him" and he had very

quickly to rethink "what am

I going to do?

What's the next step?"

And he said, "the best is if I

carry on with what I was good at

so far, which was writing about

where I'm traveling."

And then he decided to go

to America.

>> He left Germany?

>> He did, yeah.

That's when he took the boat

and then rode-- I think four

years he went out from.

Um, after that, as I say, he

tried to put a little bit more

space between him and whoever

was in power in Berlin.

When was he actually arrested?

Was it '50s?

>> Eichmann.

>> Eichmann?

>> Eichmann?

It was in '61.

>> Close.

O.k., '61.

And I think his then boss at

Coca-Cola-- and I haven't got

the papers for that--

suggested that he would more or

less take the bull by the horn,

which is a word that if there is

a problem, tackle it.

And he got together with

der spiegel, which is a very,

was a very well-known--

aggressive, in a way--

publication.

He said, "just put it

right there."

And he wrote his side of the

time there and that was it and

it was never another item.

Because basically, all he was,

he was doing this

journalistic work.

>> We said goodbye to edda and

Harald and promised to stay

in touch.

I found the article

edda mentioned.

She got some of the

details wrong.

It was published five years

after the eichmann trial and

dealt with s.S. History.

In it, edda's father is not

listed as a journalist,

but as eichmann's first boss.

I called heinz hoehne,

the man who wrote the article.

Much to my surprise,

he recognized my grandfather's

name immediately.

Von mildenstein made a point of

telling him about Kurt tuchler,

presenting himself as

"the zionists' best friend".

>> Hello, Mr. Goldfinger!

Very nice to see you.

This is my wife.

>> Arnon: Did you meet my

grandfather, Kurt tuchler?

:

>> And when Von mildenstein came

to your office, what else did he

tell you about his relationship

with my grandfather?

>> But the eichmann trial

happened already five years

before, so they already heard

about it--

>> So what Von mildenstein

actually did during the war?

>> When heinz hoehne researched

s.s. History, many documents

were off limits to him because

they were kept in east Germany.

I go to the reunited national

archives to find what

hoehne couldn't.

As it turns out,

many Von mildenstein documents

survived the war.

Among them: A membership card

from the Nazi party before they

took power; A letter of

appointment as an s.S. Officer;

and a c.V. In his

own handwriting.

1935 to '36: Head of department

at the s.D.,

the secret service.

1937: A trip abroad,

just like edda said.

But oops-- 1938:

Goebbels' ministry of

propaganda, where he spent

seven years as

a department head.

So Von mildenstein didn't quit

the party, he was promoted

within its ranks-- less than a

year after he said good-bye

to my grandparents.

I just can't understand the

relationship between my

grandparents and

Von mildenstein and no one

seems to offer a

satisfying explanation.

So I turn to an expert on

Nazis and denial,

professor Michael wildt.

>> Hi. >> Hello.

>> Happy to see you. >> Hello.

>> Arnon: My biggest surprise

was that I found out that the

tuchlers and mildenstein were

in contact also after the war.

They renewed their friendship.

And I cannot understand it.

How can it be?

>> I look at pictures of my

grandparents returning to

Germany time and again,

as if they wanted to prove that

their homeland didn't

reject them.

And I try to imagine their

first talk with Von mildenstein

after the war.

Did he tell them what he told

his daughter, that he left it

all behind, to travel around

the world?

And did they, in order to deal

with the loss of

susanne lehmann, choose to

believe their friend

wasn't involved?

But my dilemma is not what to

believe or not to believe.

I have to decide what to do

with what I know.

>> You know, but what I found

and I felt that I must tell you

because you know, because of

our, you know, some kind of a

friendship that's started even

between US, is um, I found out

information about your father,

what I found to document that he

was working in the goebbels'

ministry and he was officer in

the s.D., which was the

intelligence for the s.S.,

and that's really different

from what I knew so far.

>> Yeah, I don't quite believe

that because he wasn't

there anymore.

He was not in Berlin after--

I don't know whether the forces

were sort of gathering up or if

he stayed long enough, he would

have been in the forces himself.

He didn't.

Because that's when they went

to Japan.

>> I went to the bundesarchiv

and this is something that

I copied for you.

>> Yeah, o.K.

>> See, this is uh, that's his

handwriting, yeah?

>> Yep.

>> Here he writes in his c.V.

That he joined goebbels'

ministry in the...

>> O.k., I mean, that is like

a skeleton.

I've got something where if I

found the pieces, I could patch

them to that, but not more

than that.

With all fairness and even

wanting to do it, I wouldn't

know where to start

at the minute.

>> There is a whole file in the

bundesarchiv, but you can ask

if you are interesting in it.

>> Yeah, I mean, I'm interested,

like, you know, if you've got

someone in the family who's done

something, you want to find out

what was he thinking about it

and why did it sort of--

where did he go and where was

the rest of the family at

that time?

Um... gives nothing really on

that, does it?

>> You think it will help to--

do you want to learn about

the past?

>> I want to learn around it,

but I'd like to sort of--

preferably-- see different sides

of it as well, if that

is possible.

Um...

Anything else?

>> When you start talking about

the past, it's impossible

to stop.

Who would have imagined that my

mother and I would visit the

grave of Heinrich lehmann,

susanne's husband,

my mother's grandfather,

my great-grandfather.

>> Hannah, in Hebrew:

>> Hannah: Wow, wow, wow.

>> Arnon: Wow, wow, wow.